“He’s too old for you and taken.”I gasped out when she stopped her assault and I tried not to get too happy about the fact that Lincoln had spoken to Rika, which meant he was fine, even if I didn’t know how that had occurred.
“Yeah, I know. By your girlfriend apparently…”Her brows waggled.“It was funny watching people explain things to me. Then I told your parents to be spiteful, and it was even more fun seeing their brains explode. I was fairly sure your mom wanted to shoot you for not telling her that your new girlfriend was part of a giant harem and that she was a billionaire gangster.”
Once more I wanted to laugh even though I couldn’t. Though that desire was quickly squashed by my heart almost overflowing with emotion and far too much information for a man barely able to comprehend his own name.
“I can’t believe you tried to get me into trouble, you little bitch.”I coughed again.“They knew I was dating Saph, but I didn’t think they needed to know the rest, or that she was a Montana.”
Rika shrugged.“I can’t believe you tried to die on me. That’s so fucking rude and you know I have death related trauma. Were you trying to send me back to therapy? You know last time I was like seconds away from being taken to one of those cute padded cells for a little downtime.”Her eyes rolled as Itried not to get my hopes up once more by the fact she even seemed to know about Sapphire, even if my heart did pang a little at the reminder of what my cousin had already been through in her short life.
“Who bought you here?”I asked.
“A beautiful and rich Latina lady with an ass I want to bite.”For a moment, my heart leaped once more and then, as Rika continued, it shattered again.“She said her name was Raya. She’s a fucking cougar and really cool, by the way. I don’t know why she’d be friends with you, but if you can get me in there, I will forgive you for this dying thing.”
“Again, too old for you and mildly taken. By three mafia men who look like they could eat you for breakfast.”I snorted before my face fell as panic ate up my insides again.“My friends… are they… are they all…”I wanted to ask if they had all made it back to us, but seeing as Rika had only mentioned Linc, I didn’t want to find out the truth.
If it was just Lincoln, I would be happy he was alive but heartbroken far beyond comprehension about the others.
Them dying on me wasn’t even something I could bear to think about.
“I was supposed to get someone if you woke up, but if you promise to buy me a puppy, I will tell you everything. I really want a big dog, but I don’t have a bank account yet and looking for a job is kinda hard when you’re playing nurse to a faker.”Rika whined a little, and though it was ridiculous, I nodded my head and agreed that the most unorganized and insane sort of teenager I knew was responsible enough for a puppy that I would buy.
“Good, now do you want the good news or the bad news first?”She smiled softly, but there was concern for me there, too.
There were many things I wanted to know the answers to, and far too many questions desperate on the tip of my tongue.But only two were of the most important, even far more than wanting to know if I was alright.
“Tell me about my friends and my girl.”I nodded.
“Okay,”she took a seat on the edge of my bed, linking her hand through mine as her expression turned far too dark for my liking and she used the nickname for me she only chose when things were going badly.“I’m really sorry, Koko. But-”
My ears rang.
And with each word Rika spilled, I felt another piece of my soul return to the darkness.
A darkness filled with too many corpses of people I knew.
A darkness that didn’t contain my girl.
Chapter Five, Present Day
Spinning around a pretty girl on a nightclub dancefloor, music pounded in my head only marginally quieter than my heartbeat and rage. Memories laced with poison tried their best to taunt me, but I wasn’t having it. I was pretending everything was fine. In fact, everythingwasfine – I was going to be in denial so fucking hard that it became the truth.
Easy.
I was in a suit. A fancy three piece one made of a deep navy, with real leather shoes and all the other bits of rich man bullshit. Misha had lent me one of his suits, and I liked it. And sure, the Amor Loungewasn’t a classy place. But it was a special event, and I was in the mood to dress up for it and play rich boy businessman.
The special event being that I was playing hitman and blending into my surroundings with the other rich assholes who were here to buy an unwilling girl for an hour or two.
Or worse.
My date for the evening was far too beautiful for such a place, especially on her seventeenth birthday. A day that not so long ago she might not have made it to at all, thanks to the types of people that surrounded us. But whatever. She was fancy as fuck in her floor length black gown, made of silk, that had slits on either side showing off far too much of her thick thighs and a new floral tattoo that trailed down half her leg, courtesy of Kellan and his talents. A thin black choker was around her pale neck, a pair of sky high heels were on her feet, and she looked happy and stunning. Even more so with the Red Diamonds tattoo that was also freshly healing on her wrist. She’d even curled her newly dark purple locks and brushed them out so there was only the slightest of waves left behind.
I had the urge to run my fingers through it and see if her hair was as soft as it looked. Then I realized how fucking weird that would make me, so I tamped that shit down and pretended to be normal inside my brain.
“Lilah.” I sighed her name as the beat of the music bounced around my brain far more than my grief and anger did. “You look perfect, and I’m glad to be here with you, but if I have to dance for much longer, I think I’m going to go insane.”
Delilah shrugged. Her big grey eyes, coated in a delightful amount of black eyeliner, narrowed at me as we kept spinning around.
“You think I’m not already insane? This entire plan is bananas. But that’s fine. We can be batshit together and see what happens, and I can bet my new fancy shoes on something happening soon.” She grinned and the neon lights bouncedoff her shiny white teeth, that were accentuated by her black lipstick.
